Border inspection staff at the Haikou Meilan International Airport in South China’s Hainan Province handle visa-free entry procedures for inbound passengers on March 15, 2023. Hainan resumed visa-free transits policy that day and a flight carrying passengers from Singapore arrived at the Meilan airport the same day. Photo: VCG

The flight between Urumqi in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to Turkmenistan's capital Ashgabat resumed operation on Tuesday night after a three-year suspension, marking the full recovery of flight services between China and five Central Asian countries.

Flight grouping CZ6015/6 will run every Tuesday and is operated by China Southern Airlines. As of now, China Southern Airlines has resumed the operation of nine international routes covering the region including flights from China to Almaty of Kazakhstan, Islamabad of Pakistan and Tehran of Iran and other cities. Flights have been recovered to about 50 percent of the transport capacity in 2019.

Air China on Friday unveiled a direct route from Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province to Astana in Kazakhstan, the first fixed international service to Kazakhstan via Shaanxi operated by the carrier, which observers believe will increase the connection between China and Central Asia.

Since China proposed the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, five Central Asian countries - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan - have enhanced cooperation with China.

In February 2023, China and five Central Asian countries held the first-ever forum on industry and investment cooperation in Qingdao, East China's Shandong Province. Experts said China and five Central Asian countries have huge cooperation potential in energy, climate control and agriculture.

China has become one of most important trade partners for the five Central Asian countries as bilateral trade volume hit 70.2 billion yuan ($10.14 billion) in 2022, increasing by about 40 percent year-on-year, while bilateral investment remained stable, officials from China's National Development and Reform Commission revealed during the forum held in Qingdao.

Global Times